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More Lawsuits Over Agency Model
A class action lawsuit over e-book pricing filed against five major publishers and Apple has begun to sprawl, with four new "copycat" lawsuits filed last week. Two suits, filed in Manhattan, add Random House as a defendant, while a third suit, also in Manhattan, adds Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
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Second Circuit Rejects "Freelance" Settlement
A two-judge panel of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday rejected an $18 million settlement in the long-running class action suit filed by freelance writers following the landmark Tasini case, and in the process have likely killed the chances of a revised settlement in the Google Books case.
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With Final Filings, Parties in GSU E-Reserve Case Await Verdict
The parties in the closely-watched e-reserves trial at Georgia State University have filed what are likely to their final documents, and a verdict by federal judge Orinda Evans could come any day.
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The Breakup: Are the Google Settlement Parties Headed for Splitsville?
Breaking up is hard to do, and for the parties in the Google Books litigation a potentially messy breakup looms. Can these factions make enough progress on a revised settlement agreement in the next six weeks to avoid that fate?
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Citing Wal-Mart, Objector Files Brief Challenging Google Settlement Status
After judge Denny Chin gave the parties in the Google Books litigation until September 15 to come back with a revised settlement, an objector asked the court to drop the class-action status of the suit, based on the Supreme Court's recent ruling in Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Dukes et al.
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Judge Concerned with Lack of Progress in Revised Google Settlement Talks
Lawyers for the parties in the Google Book Settlement asked U.S. Circuit Judge Denny Chin for more time to negotiate a revised deal but, in sharp contrast to the last meeting, Chin expressed "concern" about the lack of progress and wondered whether there was in fact a deal to be made.
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Revised Google Settlement Can Wait—But Can Judge Chin?
What’s going on with a revised Google Settlement? Some talking, but probably not very much progress, say court-watchers, noting that the odds of seeing a revised settlement proposal in 2011 may be long.
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Arguments in GSU E-Reserves Trial Conclude; Judge Deals Publishers a Quick Loss on One Count
The closely-watched Georgia State University e-reserves trial wrapped up in Atlanta Wednesday, with closing arguments by both sides. Judge Orinda Evans will now decide the case, following two scheduled rounds of post-trial filings, due on July 15, and July 22. But in a setback for publishers, Evans will decide the case on a single claim of “indirect liability” after granting a defense motion for a “directed verdict” that in effect dismissed publishers’ contributory infringement claim (although it is subject to appeal). In granting the defendant’s motion for a directed verdict, Evans for all intents and purposes ruled that publishers failed to present a contributory infringement claim upon which they could prevail.
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No Progress on Google Book Settlement Talks;Tone Changing?
At a status hearing that lasted all of five minutes, attorney Bruce Keller told Judge Chin that no decisions have been reached on any key issues in the Google Book Settlement, but that the parties still hoped to see if an amicable resolution is possible. Keller, representing the publishers, was the only one to speak at the hearing and said he spoke for all parties, which also includes Google and the Authors Guild. Keller asked Chin for another 60 days to continue to negotiate. Chin, saying he understood it was a complicated issue, set the next status hearing for July 19.
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A New Balance of Power: After the Google Book Settlement
In a wide-ranging webinar discussion on May 10, "What Comes After the Google Book Settlement," a panel of experts said they expected some adjusted form of the settlement to emerge from Judge Denny Chin's rejection of the book settlement on March 22.
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GSU E-Reserves Trial To Begin Next Week
Despite a flurry of last-minute briefs, as of today the most significant copyright trial since the Kinko's coursepack litigation, Cambridge University Press et al v. Patton et al, is still on track to begin on Monday, May 16. The case revolves around the practice known as electronic reserves at Georgia State University. And while initial reports have characterized publishers as facing a difficult road, a pre-trial memorandum filed by publishers' attorneys on April 29 outlines a case that could be stronger than previously thought.
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Publishers Weekly, Digital Book World to Host May 10 WEBinar on the Google Settlement
After years of debate and discussion, on March 22 Judge Denny Chin rejected the Google Book Settlement, an unprecedented class action deal that held major ramifications for the publishing industry. What does the settlement’s failure now hold for the future of books, and the industry? Join us on May 10 at 1 PM EST / 11 AM PST for a timely, free WEBcast that will recap the settlement’s long and winding legal path to date, and look ahead to what comes next, not just for the parties, who are said to be working on a scaled-back, revised settlement proposal, but for a wide range of stakeholders, including authors, and librarians.
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Google Status Conference is Delayed
The book world was scheduled to get a little better sense of what was next for the Google Settlement later today as the parties were scheduled to gather in judge Denny Chin’s courtroom at 4:30 pm for a court-ordered status conference. But that conference has now been postponed until June 1.
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Judge Sets Trial Date in Georgia State University E-Reserves Lawsuit
Buried beneath the news of the Google Settlement’s rejection last week, a federal judge in Georgia has paved the way for publishers to go to trial in a contentious copyright case involving e-reserve practices at Georgia State University. On March 17, Judge Orinda Evans denied a GSU motion to dismiss the final count in the suit, setting May 16th as a trial date. The order comes after Evans denied all three of the publishers’ motions for summary judgment, while granting two of three GSU motions to dismiss, in October, 2010. She allowed the action to proceed on a single, more narrowly drawn charge of contributory infringement.
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The Google Settlement Rejection: What Comes Next?
When it was introduced in 2008, the Google Book Settlement was hailed by its creators as historic. Now, it is history. On March 22, after more than two years of contentious debate, Judge Denny Chin rejected the controversial proposal on copyright and antitrust grounds.
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After Rejection, a Rocky Road For Google Settlement
In the hours after Judge Denny Chin rejected the proposed Google Book Settlement, publishers and the Authors Guild said they were open to narrowing the scope of the proposed settlement in order to get a revised deal approved, while Google said it “would consider its options.”
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U.S. Supreme Court Takes On Landmark Fair Use Case
Can foreign works that have passed into the public domain in the U.S. be withdrawn by Congress and put back under copyright protection? That question will be addressed by the U.S. Supreme Court, which this week granted a writ of certiorari in a case, Golan v. Holder, that questions the constitutionality of a federal statute that restored copyright protection to thousands of foreign works, including symphonies by Shostakovich and Stravinsky, books by Virginia Woolf, artwork by Picasso, and films by Fellini and Hitchcock.
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Former U.S. Register of Copyrights Marybeth Peters Joins CCC Board of Directors
Officials at the Copyright Clearance Center today confirmed that Marybeth Peters, who recently retired after 17 years as U.S. Register of Copyrights, has joined its board of directors. After becoming United States Register of Copyrights in 1994 and guiding the agency through the advent of the digital era, Peters retired last December.
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With 4-4 Split, Impact of Supreme Court Copyright Case Is Blunted
In a 4-4 split, the Supreme Court this week upheld a lower court ruling in a copyright case, Costco Wholesale Corporation v. Omega, S.A, that could have held major implications for the book business—even though the case doesn’t involve books. With newly appointed Justice Elena Kagan abstaining because of prior involvement, the case, which was expected to set a major precedent for the sale of so-called "gray market" goods, including books, is a legal wash for interested observers, including publishers, libraries, and consumers, as split decisions from the Supreme Court hold no legal precedent.
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'NYLS Law Review' Publishes Issue Dedicated to Google Settlement
Monday Google launched Google eBooks, its ambitious e-bookselling venture, but now nearly 10 months since its February approval hearing, the Google Book Settlement, the search giant's other major book project, remains in legal limbo. That of course, could change any time with a ruling by the court—and when it does, The New York Law School Law Review will have perhaps the most comprehensive analysis of the legal issues at work, publishing a full issue dedicated to the settlement.
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